Donald Trump and His Family Are Profiting From His Campaign

At the start of Donald Trump's bid for the presidency, he frequently boasted that he was the only candidate bankrolling his own campaign. But thanks to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission, it seems as if the businessman-turned-politician has been using his campaign to pour money into his own companies, and companies run by his children.

As The New York Times pointed out in June, the Trump campaign spent a fifth of its resources on Trump-affiliated services in May. These services included use of the Mar-a-Lago Club for $423,000; TAG Air private jets for $350,000; use of Trump Restaurants for $125,000; and use of Trump Tower (which are technically his campaign headquarters) for $170,000. And once the Republican candidate started asking for donations, Trump reportedly raised the rent on Trump Tower. In March, for example, the building received $35,458 from the campaign, while in July, it saw $169,758. In short, Trump is paying hefty sums to his own companies in his run for president.

“Historically, candidates would separate themselves from their business interests when running for office," Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert with the Campaign Legal Center, told The Times. "Trump has done the opposite by promoting his businesses while running for office.”

VICE News took a closer look at the campaign's filings since May, and found that Trump has so far paid his own affiliates a grand total of $7.7 million, adding new gravity to the now-famous statement he made back in 2000, during an interview with Fortune: "It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it."

His kids are being paid handsomely, too. VICE News reports that Eric Trump's vineyard received $3,938.58 from the Trump campaign during the month of May. After her RNC speech, Ivanka's team tweeted out where voters could purchase the dress she wore, which was part of her department-store fashion line:

The dress sold out the same day. Of course, seizing on an opportunity isn't the same as receiving a check, but it shows how Trump and his family are savvy at monetizing the candidate's bid to "Make American Great Again."

And with this new information, it's important to note that the campaign is not as self-funded as Trump would like us to believe. By the end of 2015, the campaign raked in $19.4 million, $13 million of which came from Trump. The majority of the other $6.4 million was generated through individual contributions, and there is a "Donate" button on his website.

“It is something to keep an eye on,” Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an election law expert at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, told The Times. “As soon as you start using campaign money that has come in from donors, not just the money that he has loaned to himself, and he uses it for something that he will personally keep, or his family will personally keep, that is what crosses the line.” But as VICE notes, the laws on who can be paid what during a campaign aren't entirely clear, so unless the FEC decides on its own volition to get involved, it's likely that Trump's companies and family will continue to profit from the campaign regardless of whether he becomes our next president.